Clea Shearer Begins Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer
- Yesterday (Thursday, May 19) was a heavy day for professional organizer and Netflix star Clea Shearer. It was the day she started chemotherapy for her stage 2 breast cancer.
- Last month, Clea announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and that she would be undergoing a double mastectomy. Her tumors were sent to a lab to determine if she would need chemotherapy or radiation, and it turns out she needs both.
- Chemotherapy for breast cancer uses strong drugs to kill cancer all over the body.
- It’s possible that patients get this treatment to shrink a tumor before surgery, afterward to get rid of any remaining cancer cells (like Clea) or on its own if the patient cannot have surgery.
The 40-year-old from Nashville, Tenn., shared a photo on Instagram of her sitting in a treatment chair at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Belle Meade, also in Nashville. Her husband, John, captured the image. (He's a professional photographer.)
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"I showed up for my transfusion today with my chemo bag full of so many blankets, snacks, and supplies, that I'm sure it looked like we were planning on staying the week instead of 4 hours," she continued.
Clea also shared a video to her Instagram story, showing her followers what was in her bag. Among the goodies were cards from her children, Stella, 11, and Sutton, 7, that read, "Don't let chemo make you emo!" (Once she’s finished chemotherapy, Clea will also go through radiation treatment.)
Clea Shearer, star of the @netflix show “Get Organized With the Home Edit,” began chemotherapy for her stage 2 breast cancer yesterday, Thursday, May 19. More via @SurvivorNetTeam soon.
She shared this video of gifts from her children to Instagram pic.twitter.com/YUumSaOZiU
sydney schaefer (@sydneydschaefer) May 20, 2022
"They escorted me, my mother, and John to my infusion room and started going through the medical cocktail I was about to receive," Clea wrote. "It doesn't help with the nerves that this treatment is called the Red Devil. When this is all over with, I'm going to work on a rebrand … that name sucks."
"Once the infusion started, I began to relax," she added. "I was in a very comfy recliner … that even had massage and heat settings … and there were warm blankets and snacks! I read a book, watched Netflix, and then it was over."
"And now I get to play the very fun game of: 'Is this a side effect?' for the next 5 months. But right now I'm only focusing on today, and today I feel pretty decent! I'll take the win where I can get it."
Clea Shearer lives in Tennessee with her husband and their two children. She co-founded The Home Edit with her best friend and business partner Joanna Teplin, 42. Their business became such a success that Netflix opted to make a television show of it. Netflix released the second season of Get Organized with the Home Edit on April 1, shortly before Clea received her cancer diagnosis.
Clea Shearer’s Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Last month, Clea Shearer announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and that she would be undergoing a double mastectomy.
"I found a lump myself (in) the last week of February," Clea posted to Instagram on April 7. "I had been trying to make an appt with my OB(GYN) for several months, and even when I told them I found a lump, they couldn't accommodate me. I had to request a mammogram from my general doctor, which led to an ultrasound, and then an emergency triple biopsy."
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Clea, who's been sharing regular updates about her health on Instagram, was originally told her cancer was stage 1, but during the nine-hour surgery on Friday, April 8, doctors found cancer in one of her lymph nodes, which elevated the cancer to stage 2. The type of breast cancer Clea was diagnosed with hasn’t been been made public yet, but she said her cancer is "aggressive and fast-moving," however, "I caught it early."
She had two tumors, one measuring 2 centimeter in size and the other 3 centimeters (she was originally told each tumor was 1 centimeter). The tumors were sent to a lab in order to determine if Clea would need chemotherapy or radiation, and as stated earlier, it turns out she needs both.
According to her Instagram, Clea also underwent a second breast cancer surgery recently because “some of my skin tissue is just NOT having it…”
It’s now been over a month since her surgeries, so the next phase of treatment can begin.
Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer
Chemotherapy for breast cancer uses strong drugs to kill cancer all over the body. It’s possible that patients get this treatment to shrink a tumor before surgery, afterward to get rid of any remaining cancer cells (like Clea Shearer) or on its own if the patient cannot have surgery.
An Overview of Breast Cancer Treatment
Whether or not to have chemotherapy can also be the patient's choice, depending on their age, the type of cancer they have and its stage.
If the patient's breast cancer is triple-negative, which means the three main types of receptors estrogen, progesterone and the HER2 protein don’t fuel the cancer, chemotherapy is typically the treatment. This is because the cancer does not respond to certain targeted therapies.
Women who are diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer have high levels of the HER2 protein on the outside of their cancer cells. For patients with early-stage disease, meaning they have relatively small tumors and no lymph involvement, a number of HER2-directed therapies have dramatically changed the landscape. These include chemotherapy drug trastuzumab (brand name: Herceptin), as well as pertuzumab (brand name: Perjeta), which is a monoclonal antibody used in combination with chemotherapy.
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